If you start with an actual Harley, don't go with a Sporster. It's the only bike by Harley that is mass produced therefore a saturation of the market. You will want to upgrade it in a year after being beat up by it's rough ride %26amp; you won't be able to unload it without eating some of the cost. Go with a smaller bike in the softtail or glide series for a more comfortable ride, long term bike. Look on Craigslist.com for the best deals in used bikes. People are practically giving them away on there.Wanting to purchase a motorcycle, What is a good beginner 'Harley style ' motorcycle to well, start with!
stay away from the v star, I have been working on a bunch of them for customers. yamaha cut a lot of corners on them and they throw a rod at about 40,000 miles. so far 20 of them have come into my shop all with the same problem.Wanting to purchase a motorcycle, What is a good beginner 'Harley style ' motorcycle to well, start with!
Suzuki Savage/S40 good all around bike
You say....Harley Style, that means, not really a HD.
There are plenty of copies of the Harleys on the markey.
Yamaha is the best copy so far. Yamaha 1100 V Star.
the best cruiser bike to start out with is the 883 Sportster for $4995.00 ; the closest thing to it would be a V-Star 650 and I demoed a V-Star 13-- and am of the opinion that they do not handle very well; I do not like the handling of the Road King or Super Glide either,as they are too thick for me and the Sportster is very thin and I enjoy rocking it back and forth while riding,I jump it once in a while,like to sit sideways on the the seat while riding,stand up on the seat and on the mid pegs while riding .... I generally run it at 85 mph on the interstate and have put about 10k miles on it and have never been passed by any bigger Harley's so far .... they are nice for cruising around with a chick on the back,but the Sportster is a bike for getting out and raising cain on;the Sportster was origionally a dirt bike and it would not hurt you to get a little Honda CRF 130 and learn how to trail ride to get you used to making quick turns and avoiding obstacles etc ..... but the only bikes I considered vs the Sportster were the Triumph Bonneville 900,Triumph Thruxton 900 and the Triumph Scrambler 900 and the V-Star 650 because they were in the price range; the 883 Standard can just get new handle bars and cables for like $100.00 extra vs paying $7k for an 883l or custom ....... I would get the 883 Harley Davidson Sportster;you can always get it bumped up to a 88 cubic engine in the future if you so choose and will still be saving $7 thousand dollars and have more pride in your custom bike ......
Most of the big-name motorcycle manufacturers have one or two ';mid-size'; cruisers in the 750-900cc range that would be great first bikes for a new rider. My wife started out on a 250cc Honda Rebel and was ready for a bigger bike within 6 months. She now rides an 800cc Suzuki Volusia, which is a really nice bike for her. I think the new models have been renamed as the Suzuki M-50.
Whatever you decide to buy, before you do... Take a Motorcycle Safety Foundation beginner rider course. The two-day course will teach you the basics of safe motorcycle operation, and when you complete the class, most states will give you a pass on having to do a practical demonstration for your license.
Also, when figuring out how much you can afford to spend on a motorcycle, don't forget to save a few $$ for a good quality helmet and appropriate riding clothes. They could save your life!
my advice is this. take a motorcycle rider course and use there bikes to get used to them, then get a harley they stand behind there vehicles with extendended warranty also which covers eveything except the battery ok. and you can get frm 1450 cc to 1600 cc now which have to kits already installed ok nice bikes and if you sell it you wont get tortured trying to sell it either they keep there worth up
sounds like you have gotten some decent answers. Any of the Yamaha 'star' models would be good. Honda Shadow VLXs would be a suitable choice too.
Honda Shadow VLX. 600cc, and nice styling. Very low seat and light weight. If you're a completely novice rider, the rebel or other 250cc bike might be a safer choice.
The VLX is just big enough that you can probably be okay with it for a couple of years. It'll handle short highway trips okay, and is light enough for city driving.
honda rebel is too tiny if you want a better beginners bike go with the yamaha virago250 better styling and better looking. about the same price as the honda. If you want a little bigger the honda shadow VLX is a nice 600 that is still fairly small and easy to ride.
My brother and I bought 2 new bikes for a summer vacation. His 1200 Bandit leaked gas and ruined the motor before it got 2000 miles. We asked Suzuki to replace the motor so we could go on vacation.
They said it鈥檚 to expensive and would cost $3000. After 4 months and the vacation gone they got the motor rebuilt at a their cost of $3700. The dealer wanted to replace the motor but Suzuki squashed that.
The gas stained cases and burnt exhaust pipes were not replaced. The bike got nicked and scratched all over from being apart for so long. The rep rode it and looked at it, then said it鈥?good as new. It ran like crap and looked worse.
We called Japan for nothing, and even wrote the US CEO all for nothing. We spent $15,000 for the bikes to get ripped off. We spent our vacation hassling with Suzuki, and not one person there gave a F! Beware Suzuki鈥檚 warranty is not worth the paper it鈥檚 printed on! Buy one of their lemons are get ripped off like we did!
Suzuki ripped off a man dieing cancer and stole his only chance for a summer motorcycle vacation with his brother while he was still healthy enough to go. We did everything possible to make our vacation happen and we were insulted by the Suzuki rep. Not one person anywhere in Suzuki鈥檚 entire organization cared one whit.
It鈥檚 perfectly OK to rip off a dying man and steal his only chance for a vacation after we spent $15,000. What ever you do run from buying any Suzuki. If you get a lemon you鈥檙e screwed and no one there will care. It happened to us it can happen to you.
Depending on your size ,If your wanting a really good looking Harley looking bike without the big price tag check out the Honda Shadow 750cc,its not overly huge and not so small you outgrow it in 6 months ,Perfect bikes for new Riders that do want something that still has the get up and go / Also Take the course you will really like it plus meet others that are Beginners also
Yamaha Virago 250cc is a v-twin an super reliable. mpg about 85mpg @ 65 to 70 mph.
If you mean a ';cruiser'; style I'd go with a Yamaha V-star 650. Light for it's size and very nimble (for a cruiser).
Buy used for your first bike.
are you looking for a ';harley style';, or a harley? a harley style, or cruiser style bikes are made by all manufacturers. depending on your personal taste you have a wide choice. all of today's bikes are build very well. and contrary to some opinions on here, harley's are well built too. if you want a harley then buy a harley. go to dealers and look at the bikes that excite you, sit on them, if you have a motorcycle license, road test a few of them. before you make any deals, go to www.harley-davidson.com and see what list price is. a lot of h-d dealers in the philadelphia, pa area are giving $1000.00 - $2000.00 off of big twins and $500.00 - $1000.00 off of sportster list prices.
a sportster is a good bike, but you may want to look into a dyna or even a softail if you can spent the money.
good luck.
Im new here but if youlive in the UK
have you passed your full bike test?
if not your stuck on a 125cc
seems everyone thinks you have
If you want to start with a low level bike - try the honda rebel - it's a 250cc engine in a cruiser style bike - its a small bike, but good for beginners.
Otherwise, go into a dealership and ask to look at their used cruisers. They should have a good number of ';Trade ins'; that they have for sale.
rather than following the flock and getting a Harley or a Harley style motorcycle check out the triumph bonneville series. They are very light and nimble for a cruiser and have enough power to be enjoyable. They are also very reasonably priced at about 8000 for a higher end model.
